The bright light of the sun pierced through the desert storm clouds to illuminate the paths of wandering souls. Tsu's lungs filled themselves with the thick, musty air, causing him to cough involuntarily.
He rubbed his eyes, sitting up in the sandy plateau where he had woken up seconds earlier. In three directions he could see nothing but sand for miles. In the fourth direction, there seemed to be a staggeringly tall building far off in the distance. Due to its perceived height, he had to guess that it couldn't be more than a half a mile away. If it were, he'd be able to see the top of it.
He began to approach it, yet no matter how long he walked he never seemed to get any closer to it. He continued to walk for quite a while, slowly and logically deciding the most reasonable explanation for his current situation.
He most certainly died the previous afternoon. Or at least, a previous afternoon. He had no way of knowing how much time had passed since then. Since he was no longer alive, he couldn't be on Earth. He didn't think it was likely that heaven required this much travel through difficult terrain to get places. Either he was in his own personal land of torment, or he had been reborn. He opted to believe in the second option, attempting to push the first one as far out of the back of his mind as possible.
It was after half an hour of walking, though it felt much longer, and half an hour of refusing to accept the fact the tower was much farther away then he could conceivably walk without giving in to the unbearable heat, that he saw two large dust clouds, steadily growing in size. One approached from the direction of the tower, and the other approached from about sixty degrees to the left of the first.
Closer, ever closer, and growing in size, the dust clouds glided over the sand. Tsu placed his hands on his knees for support, not even pondering attempting to outrun them. He would be more likely to survive saving his energy to fight when they reached him. As they came into view, he could tell each dust cloud was following a dark object. At first he thought it might be a horse, but as they each grew closer he rejected this idea. They were too… green? Each was mounted by a humanoid figure, bent forward to prevent themself from falling off. The green creatures were moving at an astonishing speed, making good time through the wasteland.
The rider to his left was sure to reach him first. Tsu could now see the creature quite clearly. It was dog shaped but massive, about the size of a full grown black bear. The rider was wearing light clothing: flimsy pants, a dirt stained tank top, and a cloak tied around the waist. She, for he could tell that they were a she, had her hair pulled back and was gripping the green creature tightly with her thighs. She also seemed to be holding a long white pole in her left hand, pressed against the side of the green beast. It was about the length of a broom handle.
Tsu turned to examine the other rider. They too were holding a long pole, however theirs was yellow. Each seemed to be racing each other to meet him, egging on their steed to push past its limits. Finally the rider to his left arrived. She looked young, likely in her twenties. The dog-like creature's skin was glossy, like damp leaves. Its smell was grassy, and its eyes showed a fierce intelligence.
She looked him up and down for a moment, before finally speaking. "Tell you what, if you don't ask any questions and come immediately, I'll cut you a special deal. I'll only take ten percent of your seed money, instead of fifteen."
Tsu weighed the risks. He didn't really know how much seed money he would be getting, let alone what it even referred to. Five percent could be unnoteworthy or substantially vital. On top of that, this woman didn't seem at all hostile. He didn't know if that would be true of his other pursuer.
On the other hand, he may be missing out on an even better deal. Especially if his current companion is so restless to be on her way as soon as possible. It was also unlikely for the other rider to be hostile, considering that the first one he met wasn't. "I'll take my chances, and wait until all of the cards are on the table before departing."
The woman sighed, and dismounted from the green behemoth. "Suit yourself."
Tsu chuckled. "What's that creature called?"
"We've been calling them Florals. Half bush and half bear, they're the bread, butter and toaster of the economy."
"We?" Tsu queried.
"Listen kid, everyone here died just like you did. We sacrificed ourselves for the greater good, and this is our reward. We get to live in a messed up society that treats us like outcasts. We have to learn the rules of this world for ourselves, and if we let it slip that we weren't born here, we have to flee from assassins for the rest of our lives. You better start learning quickly or you won't last long."
"You don't look american. I guess multi language fluency is one of the perks of rebirth?"
"Not quite. We decided to divy the planet up based on language. We're currently on the continent of Yanqui, which was designated as the English zone. I'm french, but I studied English in college so I decided to come here."
"What are the other zones?"
"As you might expect, there's English, Mandarin and Spanish. There's also a small Russian sector, but they mostly keep to themselves."
The rumbling of an approaching Floral is not unlike that of a horse's hooves, thundering for a moment before a brief pause as the creature glides seamlessly through the air for a moment. As the second rider drew near, he gently tugged on the course neck of his steed, communicating that they were stopping. The old man, with thin gray hair and similar clothes to his rival, dismounted his Floral with quite a bit of showmanship, flipping himself from on top of it to the side like a gymnast before bouncing off of it and down onto the ground. "I'm getting too old for this."
The lady quickly responded. "Yes, it seems it's time for both of us to seek other forms of work."
"What's your name, young lad?"
"Young lad? What are you british." Tsu retorted.
The old man nodded. Tsu glanced away, and placed his left hand on the back of his neck, wiping away a thick layer of sweat. "I'm Tsu."
"You must hate your father, for giving you that awful name."
"You know, I'm actually okay with it." Tsu replied, completely missing the joke.
The lady chose that moment to cut in. "I'm Lafleur by the way. It's good to meet you two. Especially," she said, eying the old man. "You."
"Then you must be familiar with who I am."
"Quite. I believe you're Brendon Watson, the former quartermaster of New Cambridge."
"It seems I have been revealed." Brendon sighed before continuing enthusiastically. "Moving on, you will be provided with a bit of seed money by whichever town you happen to first visit. We are offering you transportation in exchange for a share of that money. I can do ten percent."
"Considering," Lafleur began, "that you are likely to be one of, if not the, last first generationals left out here, I'm also willing to stay at ten. Just for you." She added with a cheeky grin.
"I think I'm going to go with the quartermaster. If what you've said about me needing to learn quickly is true, I think he's my best bet."
"Fair enough." Lafleur responded. She walked back to her Floral, gripped the top of it with both of her hands, and heaved herself onto its back. With a whispered word straight into its ear, the Floral turned tail and left in the direction of the tower.
"I guess it's time for the two of us to be on our way as well. I believe we're about a two hour's ride from the Tower. We're heading farther East, so it should take us about three hours to reach New Cambridge. We don't want to stay out too long or we may be forced to shelter from a storm."
"It rains out here?"
"Young lad, not all deserts are actually deserts. It rains here quite often. Too often, one might say."
Brendon, in a single motion, jumped ten feet straight up into the air, positioning himself to come down straight on top of his Floral. "Her name's Glass. Come on, get up here. We haven't got all day."
Tsu noticed a pouch attached to the side of Brendon's Floral. Inside of it were a pile of photos, and a black cylinder.
"What's this cylinder used for?"
"That's my water safe." Replied Brendon, reaching his hand down to help Tsu up onto Glass's back.
The two set off at once for New Cambridge. After a few minutes, Tsu requested more information about Brendon's position as quartermaster: what he did, how he fell from power, and what became of New Cambridge in his absence. Brendon Watson began to tell him quite an intricaite tale, one which must be saved until the next chapter.